KUWAIT CITY, Aug 3: Kuwait Municipality has allegedly asked the Central Tenders Committee (CTC) to cancel new contracts for maintaining cleanliness in the six governorates to guarantee the extension of the existing contracts, says Environment Affairs Committee Chairman at the Parliament MP Dr Ali Al-Omair.
Asserting the extension of existing contracts in government authorities is an outright violation of a directive from the Audit Bureau not to extend these contracts, Al-Omair claimed the Municipality has deliberately delayed the awarding of new contracts to qualified companies in favor of the current contracts. He urged Minister of Public Works and State Minister for Municipality Affairs Dr Fadhel Safar to efficiently play his ministerial role and address pressing issues at the Municipality.

In a report published earlier, Al-Omair alleged the awarding of the new contracts was delayed to ensure the extension of the existing contracts in the interest of some opportunists, who oppose Safar’s plan to use modern technology in maintaining the cleanliness of the country like the other developed nations. He said he has obtained information from a reliable source that the Municipality has asked the CTC to cancel the new contracts under the pretext that the companies, which have been qualified for this project, have submitted very high estimates. He argued the Municipality has not taken into consideration the public welfare.
He pointed out the Municipality should have invited the companies’ representatives to a meeting to explain the high quotation, which total KD340 million, presented by the 16 companies, while only one company has submitted a low offer.

Al-Omair called on the CTC to handle the issue with full transparency and explain discrepancies in the prices between the existing and new contracts with the representatives of the companies.
In case of irregularities, Al-Omair said the Union of Cleaning Companies must submit a clear complaint to the supervising authorities.
He affirmed the panel’s readiness to look into any sanitation problem and the delayed awarding of the contracts to the new companies.

Mistakes
He warned the panel will not tolerate mistakes in the awarding of cleaning tenders, considering the continuous deterioration of the sanitation system in the country.
Al-Omair lamented Kuwait spends the least on sanitation among the GCC nations despite the fact that it is one of the largest producers of waste material, which has a negative impact on public health and the environment.
He warned against the extension of the existing contracts, which stipulates only KD40 salary for workers while the new labor law in the private sector states the minimum wage should not be less than KD60, indicating the laborers might hold demonstrations to demand their rights as per the law.
He added the country has been accused by international organizations of failure to protect human rights, particularly the rights of workers.
Meanwhile, MP Dr Hassan Jowhar has condemned the recent Israeli attack on Lebanon, affirming that Kuwaitis fully support their brothers in Lebanon.
Jowhar also asked the government, Parliament and Negative Phenomena Committee to look into the issue raised by Chairperson of Ideal Mother Award Sheikha Fareeha Al-Ahmed on the alleged recruitment of foreign transvestites to assassinate political personalities in the country. He suspects the Zionist state - Israel - is behind this plot to destabilize Kuwait, emphasizing that transvestites are not common in the country.
He appealed to the committee to arrange a meeting with Sheikha Fareeha as this is the first time for a high-ranking member of the ruling family to divulge such sensitive information.
Speaking to reporters Tuesday, Jowhar stressed, “Today we were surprised by the latest Israeli attack on Lebanon. We do not expect anything from the Arab leaders but the Lebanese, specifically their leaders and resistant movement members, must immediately take the required steps to respond to this aggression.”